


Through Lifetimes

by itsmoonpeaches



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Male Friendship, Minor Aang/Katara, Minor Korra/Asami Sato, Minor Roku/Ta Min, Post-100 Year War (Avatar TV), Post-Avatar: The Last Airbender, Post-Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Spirits, Zuko (Avatar)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25214698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmoonpeaches/pseuds/itsmoonpeaches
Summary: “Avatar Roku was betrayed by your great-grandfather,” spat the woman with the quirk of her pompous brow. “I was educated in the top university in the Earth Kingdom, Ba Sing Se University. The history books tell truths. Unlike the professors in the Fire Nation, ours don’t lie to their students.” Her emerald green silk dress ruffled with her.“Ah,” stuttered the Earth King as he adjusted his glasses, “I believe this may be uncalled for Lady Yin.”“How can we trust the descendant of a murderer to cultivate peace?” Lady Yin plowed on, utterly disregarding Earth King Kuei. “He has poison in his bloodline! Isn’t that right, Avatar Aang?”-Or, Zuko meets Roku and learns what it means to be a friend.
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Aang & Roku, Aang & The Gaang (Avatar), Aang & Toph Beifong, Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Gyatso & Roku (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Korra/Asami Sato, Roku & Sozin (Avatar), Roku & Zuko (Avatar), Roku/Ta Min (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 38
Kudos: 825





	Through Lifetimes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DetectiveAtWork](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DetectiveAtWork/gifts).



> This was largely inspired by Toph's famous line at the end of 'The Avatar and the Fire Lord', in which she says, "Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?" I've been fascinated on exploring that for sometime. The Avatar lives from life to life, so it would only be natural that things carry over. 
> 
> This is also a spiritual continuation of my exploration of Aang and his spiritual side. (No pun intended?)
> 
> Please enjoy!

It all started with fire, as most things in the Fire Nation had. An all-consuming, unrelenting inferno. The world watched the Air Nomads burn into nothing but bones and ash. It was the ultimate breaking point, the purest form of treachery. Sozin had let his best friend Roku perish in the throes of poisonous gas so that he could get what he wanted.

Zuko was tired of hearing this history, but it was not because it was untrue, but because it was painful. He spent so many years of his life in conflict with himself, that hearing what his great-great grandfathers did to each other was like having half his face burned all over again.

This made things especially difficult for him when a particularly snobbish noble spouted the tale.

“Avatar Roku was _betrayed_ by your great-grandfather,” spat the woman with the quirk of her pompous brow. “I was educated in the top university in the Earth Kingdom, Ba Sing Se University. The history books tell truths. Unlike the professors in the Fire Nation, ours don’t lie to their students.” Her emerald green silk dress ruffled with her.

“Ah,” stuttered the Earth King as he adjusted his glasses, “I believe this may be uncalled for Lady Yin.”

“How can we trust the descendant of a murderer to cultivate peace?” Lady Yin plowed on, utterly disregarding Earth King Kuei. “He has poison in his bloodline! Isn’t that right, Avatar Aang?”

There was a hush in which no one knew what to do or say. It was like waiting for a tidal wave to drown them.

When Aang looked at her, it was with eyes Zuko had rarely seen. At seventeen, Aang was still known for his even temper, and peaceable attitude. But as he finished perfecting the elements of earth and fire in the past few years, the power that radiated off him had the potential to be even more intimidating. Zuko’s skin prickled with goosebumps when he saw the cold storm that brewed in his gaze.

He was glad that Katara and Toph were otherwise occupied at Cranefish Town, helping to build better structures for the now growing and bustling city. Katara would have threatened a few people. Toph would have attacked. Small mercies, Zuko supposed.

Aang stood up to his full height. He was as tall as Zuko was now. His chair screeched backwards. Everyone in the chamber winced. “I don’t know, Lady Yin,” Aang said with an even tone, “Maybe you should ask my past life’s great-grandson?”

Air rustled through his robes as he veered away from them, and he walked out into the hall.

“Great…great-grandson?” stuttered out the woman. Shock was written all over her face, and dread seemed to crease every line.

From Zuko’s right, Sokka glared at her. “He has more than one great-grandparent, you know. Sozin is only one of them,” the warrior added, crossing his arms. His fingers twitched to reach for the boomerang strapped to his back.

Realization seemed to dawn on everyone in the room. Zuko cleared his throat, suddenly feeling uncomfortable for a different reason. With an approving nod from Kuei, and an eyebrow raise from Sokka, he was soon off after Aang.

He heard someone shout that they would be taking an hour break. He assumed it had to have been one of his attendants.

Zuko did not think he would have to sprint in his formal Fire Lord attire in the middle of Ba Sing Se’s palace, but he did it anyway. The summer heat weighed down on him, sweat mingling into the folds of reds, blacks, and golds. The metallic flame-shaped crown that remained fixated onto his topknot was heavier than ever.

Worry coursed through him as he searched for Aang. Even though Zuko should have been the one to feel attacked, he had gotten over this kind of fiery discourse after years of enduring it. He knew that it would take time for the world to accept him and his nation—perhaps a whole lifetime—and he had accepted that. Aang had heard these things before, had always known. This was why it was so concerning that he left.

Zuko huffed, and rounded a corner, hearing the tell-tale rush of the manmade waterfalls of the gardens nestled in the outer wall of the palace. And then, with a sigh of relief, he spotted Aang.

The Avatar was seated in the center of a circular stone pavilion. Its roof was made of curved olive tiles lined in dark yellow. The steps that led to the center were worn from use. Breathing in, Zuko walked up them and stood over his friend, observing the back that was facing him.

“Aang?” he asked, voice softer than normal.

When there was no response, Zuko tried again.

“I can hear you,” replied Aang. He had not moved. “I just needed to meditate. Alone.”

Zuko grimaced at the implication. He inhaled, then let out a steady breath. “I’m sorry I just…what happened back there?”

“You couldn’t defend yourself, so I did it for you,” said Aang matter-of-factly. He lowered his shoulders, ruffling the fabric of his clothes. His robes were his formal ones. They were all yellow with too many layers to count. A wooden bead necklace with the swirling symbol for the Air Nomads was draped around his neck.

“This isn’t like you,” continued Zuko.

“Isn’t it?”

Zuko huffed, resigned. He plopped down on the bench that was pushed against the wall of the pavilion, still watching Aang’s back. “It was just hard to hear because it’s true. Sozin betrayed Roku. That’s what started the war,” he remarked. “My great-grandfather started the war. Part of the blame is on me, and I know that.” He was not sure if he was trying to comfort Aang or himself.

“Zuko, don’t you think you’re being unfair to yourself?” Aang asked him, not turning around. He was cross-legged on the deck. He looked oddly regal surrounded by the Upper Ring’s elaborate cherry blossom gardens, though none were in bloom. “You don’t have to punish yourself for something that happened in the past.”

Zuko frowned, leaning forward on the seat, and slanting his face downward. He could feel the sun warming his scar. “It’s not that it’s hard to hear because it’s my family’s past…it’s hard to hear because it’s yours. _You_ were betrayed.”

Aang shifted to see him. He gave him that look, the kind that Zuko would later learn was the one he reserved for moments like these. He appeared ancient with that look, emulating for a time what it was like to live a thousand lifetimes with the same spirit and the same soul. Something indescribable flashed in his stare, an understanding that no one in the living world could ever comprehend.

“I already forgave him,” Aang said, and that was that.

But his voice was distorted, strange. Deeper. It was not his own.

In the blink of an eye, Zuko was not looking at Aang’s shape anymore. There were no Air Nomad soft yellows and oranges, but Fire Nation crimson. A taller form sat before him wearing antique robes with pointed shoulder pads. He had a head of white hair that reached his midback, and a topknot kept together with a formal headpiece. The headpiece that was supposed to be worn by the Crown Prince. The headpiece that Sozin had gifted away.

“I already forgave you,” said Avatar Roku. Then, he finally turned around to face Zuko.

His golden eyes were shrewd. Gentle, like his mother’s had been when she was consoling him. Though he and Uncle Iroh were not of the same blood relations, his long beard reminded Zuko of him.

It was always an adventure to be a friend of the Avatar. Even though Zuko had found that Aang was himself no matter what, there was this consistent sense of mysticism that surrounded him in a cloud of ambiguity and knowledge. From the times Aang seemed to know things he should not, to when he was wise beyond any of them. These things could have been his upbringing, his hardships speaking for him, but there was more. There was forever more.

“You must be surprised to see me,” said Roku with a twinkle in his eye.

Zuko really was not, but he did not want to let his great-grandfather know that. It was almost as if a part of him had expected it. Instead, he was grateful that it was finally happening.

Roku appraised him and gave him a kind smile. “You must remember that my past is yours as well, Fire Lord Zuko. Whatever you may think, Sozin is not solely your burden.”

“He isn’t Aang’s or your burden either,” responded Zuko indignantly. “So why are you acting like this?”

Roku reached to touch his shoulder and rested his hand there. “I believe I am angry for you,” he spoke with soothing tones. “It is the frustration of seeing a friend wronged for something that has been forgiven that upsets Aang and therefore upsets me…but you must remember that this is a part of the same whole. If what you say is true, then whose burden is Sozin if not both of ours?”

Zuko peered at him with question, not understanding what Roku meant.

“Guilt goes both ways, my great-grandson,” added the previous Avatar, his smile softening. “Perhaps it is time to realize that you both have been feeling guilty for each other.”

After that, a torrent of clouds engulfed them and Aang reappeared standing with a tired countenance. He slumped forward and Zuko shot up to catch him, holding onto his arms.

“Aang,” he said after a moment of silence, somehow unsure and confident at the same time. “I already forgave you too.” 

-

When Zuko was busy with wedding preparations, he had invited his mother, her new husband, and his half-sister Kiyi, to assist him. He was excited to tell them the news and had sent for them via messenger hawk within days of his engagement. In his letter, he had included notes on who he had planned to invite, including the name of his best man: Avatar Aang.

His mother, Ursa, arrived on a boat from the Earth Kingdom in a week. She embraced her first born with pride, laughing, and beaming the entire time.

“The Avatar as your best man?” she asked him, a grin on her face. “How things have changed.”

“He is one of my most trusted friends,” Zuko explained.

She patted his arm and stated, “Take this.” She pulled an engraved chest from the folds of her robes. “I thought you should read them, especially now.”

He blinked, astonished. He took the box in his hands, feeling for the grooves at his fingertips. There were carvings and designs from all four nations on it. There were stylistic waves for the Water Tribes, mountains in the Earth Kingdom, depictions of dragons from the Fire Nation, and intricate pictures of Air Temples. When the lid clicked open, there were stained, withered scrolls piled inside.

“When you get a chance, you should read them,” Ursa suggested.

So, in the evening when he could hear the musical chorus of crickets at his window, Zuko opened the box with only the light of the flickering candle at his bedside.

He picked the one that rested at the top to read first. His eyes widened when he realized what it was. These were letters written almost two-hundred years ago by Avatar Roku.

He unfurled the paper, careful not to rip it. His bed creaked as he moved forward toward the light. In elegant, flowing ink strokes, the letter read:

_Ta Min,_

_I have arrived at the Southern Air Temple safely. I am overjoyed that I could come here in time to honor Monk Gyatso for his new status as a teacher. As I have told you before, he had received his tattoos soon after I left for the Northern Water Tribe. He has worked so hard to reach this point in which he can now teach his own students, and I am ecstatic for him. He sends his regards and apologizes that he cannot visit us sooner._

_When I told him you were pregnant, he immediately told me it would be a girl. I suppose he agrees with your intuition, my love. I can only be excited if you are both right._

_Please continue to take care while I am away. Your mother would be very unhappy with me if I am gone too long while you are six months into your pregnancy. However, I appreciate that you know how important it was to me to support one of my dearest friends._

_I will return to you in five more days._

_—Roku_

Zuko rolled the up the letter, letting out a breath he did not know he was holding in. He recalled the many times Aang had mentioned Monk Gyatso, his mentor, his guardian, and how he had loved him. How he had missed him.

Zuko let the candlelight invigorate him. The thought of lifetimes was a complicated thing, and it would not do for him to know what all of it meant.

-

His daughter, Izumi, was a much more tolerable child than both he and Azula had ever been. Zuko was more than thankful for this. She was curious, intelligent, and caused minimal distractions. She was easy to talk to, yet she exuded an aura of grace that he could never hope to have.

He watched his young daughter practice her forms to near perfection. She was only nine years old, yet she was far more advanced than he had been at that age.

She giggled as she ran up to him, waiting for his input.

“You are talented as always, Izumi,” praised Zuko, nodding in approval. “The only thing I see is a little hesitation. Your fire is weak where it should be strong.”

Izumi tilted her head, frowning. “But if I don’t control it, won’t I hurt someone?” she asked.

Zuko peered down at her, heart beating with love in his chest. He thought of the Fire Nation and how it was always hot during the summer months. It was warmer and more humid than the rest of the year. This was nothing new to him. The entire country was an archipelago resting on the edge of the equator, riddled with volcanoes and occasional tectonic activity. Besides the bubbling magma beneath the surface, the sun overhead was what gave the nation an identity.

Once, fire was anger and uncontrolled passionate flames. Now, years after the war had ended, fire had returned to its true form.

Fire was breath, fire was heat, fire was life.

“I’m going to tell you something that our friend, Avatar Aang told me once,” Zuko informed to his daughter as kneeled in front of her. “Fire is like the sun, but inside you.”

Izumi opened a palm to reveal a tiny, wavering flame. After a moment, a look of determination lit up on her face and it was the size of a fire lily, and just as beautiful.

-

The years were kinder on Zuko than most, he supposed. He could still fight, still bend fire, still ride on his dragon. For an elderly man, he was youthful. But that did not mean that the years were kind to his surroundings.

Peace was a fickle thing. Though all-out war never broke out during his reign, there were always threats of it, even during his daughter’s rule. He knew that this was why the Avatar had to be reborn again and again with a new face each time. Their work was never done.

Zuko could never envy Aang for that. He did wish that for once, the world would let him rest.

In the time it took for him to lean against the wooden gateway that Aang himself had built; it gave him the space to think. The sky, purple and pink from the reflection of the gaping gold spirit portal in the middle of Republic City, was somehow a testament to change. It was peace in the form of new life.

The mountains loomed behind the shadows of the city. He remembered when there were no buildings, when it was just a ragtag conglomeration of factories that made up Cranefish Town. There was a constant shift of breaking, a struggle for survival, that made up the city, and in a sense the world. It had taken him this long for him to understand what a lifetime could do. He had seen so many come and go.

“You’re not moping, are you, Lord Zuko?” inquired a familiar voice from behind him. It was scratchy with age, but recognizable all the same.

He looked over his shoulder to see Toph. She was hunched over, green dress robes draped on her. She was smirking. Beside her, Katara walked silently.

“I’m sure he’s thinking what we all are, Toph,” said Katara. She had mellowed in recent years, weighed down with a quiet sadness tinged with hope. There was a knowing wisdom in her words.

Zuko supposed that they had all felt loss. It was just the three of them now, waiting on the planet to catch up with them.

They stood in the archway on Air Temple Island, basking in the glow from the floating spirits and the portal just beyond the wedding party. Fire Lord Izumi was speaking to her son, Iroh, urging him to talk to someone. Tenzin and Bumi were chasing a hyperactive Rohan around a table of mortified guests. Kya was doubled over in laughter at something Lin had said to Suyin.

Zuko watched Korra and Asami dance in a circle with each other, soft smiles on their lips, to the sweet tune being played by the band. Their foreheads touched.

He imagined Ta Min twirling with Roku, Katara taking Aang’s hand. In the end, it was part of the same cycle. Part of the same whole.

Lifetimes went both ways. It was something he understood now.

So, when Toph said, “Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?”

Zuko replied, “I don’t see why not.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Please leave a comment if you can!


End file.
